The Washford Industrial Estate
27 Heming Road, B98 0DH
Gawcott Depot
Preston Road, MK18 4HF
0121 3710 320
Speak to our team today
CR MacDonald
Potholes Set To Leave Mighty Hole In Council Pockets
We have long since known that potholes are a massive issue on roads up and down the country, but only recently has it come to light just how big a problem we have. A recent survey carried out by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found that the cost of repairing potholes on roads across the whole country could equate to £10.5bn whilst a staggering one in five roads are deemed to be in poor condition, which means they have a working life of just five years or less.
The poor condition of our country’s roads is having a big impact on many of us, with councils being forced to pay out significant sums of money in road user compensation claims due to incidents arising from poorly maintained roads. Furthermore, small and medium businesses are said to be losing up to £5bn each year due to the poor condition of roads causing damage to vehicles, increasing the amount of fuel used, decreasing productivity and delaying workers delivering essential goods.
An additional survey conducted by AA/Populus found that a third of the 23,000 drivers questioned had suffered damage to their vehicle in some way or another as a direct cause of potholes. The same survey also saw a third of those involved stating that they classed the roads in their area as poor, very poor or terrible.
The government are attempting to offer assistance where possible, with £3bn being given to local councils between 2011 and 2015 to be spent on the road networks as well as the additional £215m announced in December last year, but with the figures found from this latest survey, that money is clearly not going to be enough.
At CR MacDonald, we are vastly experienced in the repair of potholes and will keep a keen eye on any developments announced by the government as a result of the findings from this survey, as it is quite clear that something drastic has to be done to ensure improvements are made.